The Shepherd and the Star - Part XVII
Everything lay still under a layer of thick pitiless black. The power had been struck offline by a shattering blast of emerald terraforma, and the few just living bodies lay muddled with the dead ones. All were concealed under the mass of shadows. All lost in the dark. But then there was a spark. Something, some fuzzy remnant of previous power sparked up and out of one of the control panels in the small cockpit area. It lit up and was gone in an instant, but it managed to knock the pilot’s corpse out of his seat. Shortly after his body slapped the floor, something else sparked. This spark was so much more subtle than that of the tiny flare from the console. This was the spark of life. A brown hand reached up from the floor after pushing the pilot to one side, and the captain carted himself feebly into the empty chair. He couldn’t see, but he knew his ship well enough to know where all of the important switches were. He felt along the burnt metal of the navigation board and gripped tightly a small handle. The core recognised his handprint immediately, and several more consoles lurched to life along each side of the cockpit behind him. He felt the warmth of the screen glow pamper his ruined features for a moment, but still he couldn’t see. It took him several minutes to work out why that was, and as soon as he was aware he became almost utterly besieged by a throbbing pain all along his face. He couldn’t see because he was blind. His sight had been ripped from him when the terraforma caused an unstable reaction during a recent pursuit, and now his eyes were as burnt out as the corpse that lay to his side. He found the microphone with his other hand and held down a trembling finger to it. *‘...This is Vahagnae,’ his voice trembled through the shadow-conquered decks of the vessel ‘This is Vahagnae. Is anyone else alive? Did anyone else make it? No...No life signs, not anymore. I don’t know what happened exactly, but the General used terraforma as a weapon. If the Commander made to the ship with the others then they’re our only hope now-’ He was interrupted by a small beeping which resonated from a nearby console, although he didn’t quite recognise which one. He moved his head from side to side frenziedly before he began to flick various switches on the forward panel. One of them changed the beeping into a voice. *‘-Engine’s back at maximum power. Awaiting instruction,’ it was the voice of the Morning Star’s damaged core, and sounded mechanical and yet strangely feminine in nature. *‘...The engines? The engines survived intact?’ Vahagnae said in disbelief. *‘Affirmative, Captain Vahagnae.’ It was then that the wounded captain learned that he no longer had anything to lose, and when he learned this he was able to finally catch a steady breath. *‘...Do we still have a lock on the alien ship?’ he asked with a bizarre coolness. *‘The alien spacecraft is almost out of our solar system. Its fall rate has increased as a result of the explosion.’ The core responded. *‘But can we still follow them? Can we finish the chase?’ the captain breathed his confidence down into a nearby speaker, which was pursued by a daunting silence. *‘Affirmative...’ the core squeaked, and the intrepid leader fell back into his seat. *‘Di-route all power to the engines, shields and auto-pilot. Absorb the terraforma fractures along the hull, empower those engines. Make her faster than she’s ever been.’ He ordered. *‘Negative, this method of pursuit will result in loss of life support systems-...’ the core rattled back at him. *‘Star, the only thing that survived that blast was the mission. The mission takes priority now, and that’s so tragically ironic. At least it is for me, right? We’re too far from Earth now and we’re right on the edge of known space. The least we can do is try to ensure that the General can’t turn that thing around...Maybe we can cause a little explosion of our own. Maybe we crash right into it.’ he muttered, knowing that the core could not comprehend a proper human conversation and would have no appropriate response programmed into it. *‘Negative...Orders recognised. Collision course.’ it buzzed. *‘Follow this order, Morning Star. I think it’s my last one.’ Vahagnae smiled gently and rested. As the fatally crippled freighter rolled slowly in a mist of its own debris, the two large engines behind began to glow brightly as the smaller ones, scarcely whole, coiled out from beneath the scalded armour. The front of the ‘Star turned herself forward, and smashed past the leftovers of some of her decks as they floated all around, before she cleared the haze and shook her frail engines. They gave her just the little push she needed as the auto-pilot regained consciousness, and the ship started to move in a straight line. There was a long streak of multi-coloured light painting itself across the sea of stars in the distance, guided by the unexplained alien colossus. The mission had changed, but at least it was back on. be continued soon